Here’s how air and ground robots working together will change infantry tactics

A U.S. Army Pacific Soldier moves down a road while controlling an unmanned vehicle as part of the Pacific Manned Unmanned – Initiative July 22, 2016, at Marine Corps Training Area Bellows, Hawaii. (Staff Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal/Air Force)

Locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, a foundational concept for combat arms, especially the leading edge of the Army and Marine infantry, is being dissected with the employment of robots.

“It also changes the way we look at the battlefield,” Lt. Col. Kevin Reilly of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab said at the National Defense Industry Association Ground Robotics Capabilities Conference Tuesday on a panel alongside other military and industry experts.

The drones not only give troops eyes on a dangerous area, they allow for additional sensors to pull information into the larger battlefield picture.

Reilly noted that robots, be they aerial drones that have been employed for decades or newly arrived man-packable ground robots, are cutting into a key portion of that concept ― close with.

The robots increase standoff, allowing soldiers and Marines to figure out where all the threats are before engaging.

And aerial drones are partnering with ground robots in innovative ways.

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The system could deliver tiny amounts of gear in waves, from batteries, to first aid, to ammunition or food.

By: Todd South

“You no longer have to put Cav Scouts, (Special Operations Forces) or infantry in these locations,” Viens said.

Combine that array of movable sensors with artificial intelligence and the battlefield portrait just got clearer.

“I think you’re going to see more machine learning and computer vision that allows those systems to provide critical information,” Reilly said. “That will give you a more robust picture without having to analyze all of the data.”

An example he gave was to program the computers to seek out key indicators that would give the dismounted troops practical information such as vehicles in an open area or a mass of armed infantry in their region, all drawing from multiple sensor to deliver that data.